Daryl Davis with a member of the Ku Klux Klan. COURTESY PHOTO The country that created and popularized such seasonal sports games as football, baseball, and basketball, has now created an all-season game, impervious to any type of weather. Its participants are obsessed with playing it seven days per week and twenty-four hours per day. It's called The Blame Game.For the last eight years, anything and everything that was wrong in our country or in our own personal lives was blamed on President Obama. It became so ridiculous that if someone stepped of the sidewalk the wrong way and twisted their ankle, they blamed Obama.Today, while some are still playing the old Obama version, others have moved on to the new Trump version. Ironically, the Donald himself prefers to play the old version which expired on January 20th of this year, and he does so every time he has the opportunity. In fact, it's become addictive for him.What is sad is that the United States, once a very proactive country, leading the world has become complacent and reactive in taking steps to find solutions rather than cast aspersions. Our citizens' reaction has been to blame the country's leaders. There are those who say race relations in America are the worst they've seen and eight years of President Barack Obama is to blame. Others claim that the blame for a rise in extremist hate groups and the violent and deadly event which recently took place in Charlottesville, Va., lies squarely on the shoulders of President Donald Trump.

Charlottesville, Virginia is a beautiful city. I recall quite vividly taking my children there to visit Monticello, the home of President Thomas Jefferson, a true Renaissance man. It was quite an “enlightening” experience for us to say the least.The word “enlightening” can also be used to describe the events in Charlottesville on Saturday, August 12th which resulted in an innocent protester allegedly having her life snuffed out by a white supremacist.The history of heinous acts inflicted on this country by white supremacists can be traced back decades if not centuries and includes lynchings and goes all the way through such events as the Charleston Church massacre and now Charlottesville.The enlightenment to which I am referring is the hopeful enlightenment of the portion of the electorate that placed Trump in the presidency. It is enlightenment to his clear leanings toward white supremacy as evidenced by so many of his policy positions including Muslim bans and Mexican wall building.

I walked through the deserted streets of Charlottesville Saturday afternoon thinking of Baltimore and Ferguson in the aftermath of riots there as well as the empty streets of Kuwait City in the aftermath of its liberation during the Gulf War.Chaos, then a nervous calm and finally reflection followed each experience.Lost in the chaos in the aftermath of the riot in Charlottesville was the news that North Korea had decided to step back from the brink.It is perhaps the greatest victory of the Trump era and no one was talking about it – including the President of the United States – who in a raucous exchange with the press at Trump Tower Tuesday seemingly defended Alt-Right demonstrators and other white supremacists who sparked violence Saturday near the campus of the University of Virginia.

I have never used the so-called “N word” in my entire life. Never. Maybe the reason is because I never heard the term used in my own home.I did hear it outside the home, but never in the home.I also remember quite vividly when my best and black friend from junior high school, Ronald Williams, came looking for me and was asked by a white neighbor what he was doing here, my mom called out from the window and without hesitation, “he's our guest!"I have, however, wondered how it could be that Major League Baseball was not integrated until 1947.How did people justify the segregation based solely on skin color and not talent.

Fred Davis, Hessie Harris, Daryl Davis, Brian Karem, Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger and Ron Halber at the forum on hate crimes. PHOTO BY MARK POETKERMonday night the Montgomery County Sentinel sponsored a community forum on the subject of hate crime.We invited civic leaders, county council members, our local police chief and someone from the Help Save Maryland organization.This prompted telephone calls, some our office manager deemed “harassing” and several emails – one of which said that in tolerant Montgomery County we could not tolerate an organization like Help Save Maryland.

How can you hate me when you don’t even know me? That question, asked by local musician and civil rights activist Daryl Davis rings hard in the ears this Holiday season.Which holiday season? Hanukkah and Christmas run concurrently this year. Ramadan was back in June and July while Mawlid is celebrated in December. Kwanzaa is also celebrated this month. And the big daddy Christmas is neigh upon us.

Acts of vandalism motivated by the presidential election have caused a surge in hate crimes, according to police.

In the last few weeks, vandals have drawn racist and anti-Semitic graffiti on private and public property.

On Sunday, a Silver Spring resident who lives along Williamsburg Drive found a red swastika spray-painted on his front door and saw noticed his American flag was stolen from his yard, according to Montgomery County Police spokesperson Rick Goodale.

Goodale said the homeowner had a “Trump/Pence” sign in his front yard late last month.

These incidents are part of the more than 75 hate crimes or bias incidents reported to police in Montgomery County this year.

“We did see an increase you know during the election cycle, just prior to the election and immediately after the election,” said Goodale.